The exhibition "Companions", inspired by the biographies of animals that played important historical roles in the development of human civilization on a global level, as well as local communities and cities, will be opened on January 15 at the French Institute in Belgrade, and includes works based on the street stencil technique - template, whose authors are TKV from Belgrade, Sanja Stojkov from Sombor, Aleksandar Bunčić from Novi Sad and Polar Bear from Paris.
Either as companions and helpers of historical figures in key moments of their careers and advocacy for some general interest, or as actors of major historical and political events, participants in complex scientific experiments that people should not have embarked on alone, or as brave actors in completely unexpected and risky situations, certain animals have often acquired very human biographies throughout history that have been written down and retold as part of the official history of the human race. The question, however, as stated by the author and curator of the exhibition Vladimir Palibrk, is whether the animals as the central actors of those situations are aware of the full symbolic significance of their actions? Is the motivation and immediacy of the actions of these beings on the same level as the motivation and actions of people as their collaborators in the context in which that action takes place? What do the animal-human relations and the mutual influences of their realities, which are manifested throughout the history of human civilization from the mythical age and prehistory to today, tell us about it?
From this paradox, the exhibition "Companions" draws its basic inspiration, and by dealing with a modest number of such biographies-case studies, it tries to partially shed light on the nature of human-animal relations in a historical context from different perspectives. Although non-activist in its essence, this exhibition touches upon a number of anthropological, social, communication and ethical issues surrounding this topic, leaving them open to interpretation by the viewer.
The works that were created exclusively for the "Companions" exhibition mostly rely on the street stencil-template technique. Through their previous work, including on this occasion, four artists go beyond and redefine the stencil as a medium. In light of the theme of the exhibition, street stencil art has particular relevance, because thanks to its history of application and its roots in street and guerilla propaganda, it has special potential for iconic and expressionistic intense presentation of the objects and topics it touches on, Palibrk said.
According to Palibrko, at a time when scientists are warning us about the disappearance of numerous animal species, the exhibition "Companions" raises the question of whether it is time to change our view of animals. Do they have the right to live for themselves and does humanity have obligations towards them?
TKV, as an omnipresent silent chronicler and commentator of reality, has been present on the walls of Belgrade since the early 2000s, and in the last ten years, thanks to the directness of her style and wittily designed symbolic twists in stencil and paste-up works, she managed to become an inseparable part of the city's urban identity. TKV delivers skillfully formulated social criticism in an elegant and visually communicative way, as evidenced by her numerous guest appearances and collaborations on the wider regional and European street art and contemporary art scene in general.
Sanja Stojkov, as a very active and productive author on the move between photography, graphic design and illustration to street art and tattoos, in her works always maintains a recognizable and striking stylized approach, which gives her black and white works a certain iconic power applicable to all possible contexts and surfaces from walls, through prints to everyday wearability on or under the human skin.
Aleksandar Bunčić has been active on the stage since 1996, since then he has mastered a whole series of techniques and approaches and, apart from the street scene, where he still occasionally appears, he has also succeeded in the field of academic exhibition art. At the exhibition in the Museum of Contemporary Art of Vojvodina, he presented himself with a series of new large-format works and thus, together with his colleagues, opened a new chapter in the museology of contemporary art in Serbia and Vojvodina, placing street art techniques and inspiration side by side with other already recognized practices in contemporary art.
Polar Bear is a French street art artist whose stencils have been present for years on the walls of world cities from London, through Los Angeles and Portland to Berlin, Amsterdam and Budapest. His works are most often realized in black and white technique with a multitude of gray intermediate tones, within which usually only one color detail jumps out and thus creates a striking visual-symbolic contrast with the rest of the picture. Since by education and professional orientation he is a master of light in the film industry, this is also reflected in his work in the field of street art, in which the play of light and shades is an essential poetic element. In periods when he is not working in public spaces, Polar Bear produces unique stencil art works in his studio on pieces of wood and building materials found on the street. The exhibition was created through the cooperation of the Museum of Contemporary Art of Vojvodina, the French Institute in Serbia, the Association of Electricians from Pancevo and the Ministry of Culture and Information of Serbia, and will be open until February 11.
(SEEcult.org)
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